Ground Breaking Fertility Trial at Wrightington Hospital

Newsdate: 28 April 2016

Wrightington Hospital has had a reputation for innovation for decades, but this has predominately been in the field of Orthopaedics. More recently however, the Fertility Unit, which opened on the Wrightington site in April 2015, has been establishing itself as a centre at the leading edge of fertility treatment.

The Team are currently the only unit in the country to be trialling a new kind of treatment. It’s hoped that this new technique will increase success rates of IUI (Intra-Uterine Insemination). So far the results have been positive with the treatment being up to 2.5 times more successful than traditional IUI.

The treatment more closely mimics the natural fertilisation process. This is better for patients as it can reduce the need for more invasive and expensive treatments, such as IVF. It also means that patients needed less treatment to achieve pregnancy.

Phil Harris, Consultant Gynaecologist and Clinical Lead for the Unit said

“We are pleased to be able to offer patients the chance of trialling this new technique. Helping people start a family is so rewarding, but it’s not always an easy journey for the patient. Our key goals are to make treatment more straightforward and successful for our patients, introducing new techniques like this helps us achieve these aims”.

Chris Birchall, Head of R&D, Innovation and Clinical Trials at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) said

“All of the clinical trials that we manage at WWL are high quality, ethical and operate within the Research Governance Framework. We are really pleased to be working with Phil and his Team on this project, which has the potential to help so many people struggling with fertility problems”.